


Gracefully and Grandly

by mldrgrl



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-19 20:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8223310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mldrgrl/pseuds/mldrgrl
Summary: Written for tumblr challenge word prompt: Balance





	

Scully halted abruptly in the doorway of the basement office. The look on her face held a mixture of bemusement, confusion, and, to Mulder, maybe the slightest possibility that she was considering calling upstairs to schedule him for a psychiatric evaluation. He took the book off the top of his head and grinned at her.

 

“Hey, Scully,” he said.

 

“Mulder,” she answered, taking a few cautious steps into the office while eying him suspiciously.

 

“I was reading about posture.”

 

“I see.” She nodded, but her expression remained unchanged.

 

“Ten minutes a day with a book on your head can do wonders.”

 

“I’m going to have to doubt the medical accuracy of that.”

 

Mulder put the book back on his head and walked slowly across the room to stand in front of her. “It’s not as easy as I make it look,” he said.

 

“You _look_ ridiculous, actually.”

 

“Let’s see how you do with it.”

 

Scully scoffed and ran her hand down the back of her head, smoothing her hair. “I’m definitely not putting a book on my head.”

 

“Chicken?”

 

“Now you’re being juvenile. Skinner left me a message and said he assigned us to something overnight.”

 

“I dare you,” he said, sliding the book from its perch on his head and trying to hand it to her.

 

She took a glance at the cover, an encyclopedia of cryptozoology, and then crossed her arms in refusal and raised her brow at him.

 

“I double dog dare you,” he said, waving the book by her arms.

 

“Let me spare you the escalation to a _triple_ dog dare right now and just say with absolute conviction, I won’t be putting that book on my head.”

 

“Well, okay,” he said, placing the book back on his head and adjusting it to his liking. “If you can’t do it, you can’t do it. I understand.”

 

“I said _won’t_ , not can’t.”

 

“Whatever you say.” He pivoted away from her started to make his way back across the room towards his desk.

 

Incensed, Scully swiped the book off Mulder’s head and gave a huff of annoyance as she placed the book on top of her head. He turned around and smiled at her like the cat that ate the canary. She steadied the book as it wobbled and then took a step forward. The book immediately slipped to the right and she caught it with one hand and paused to readjust.

 

“Chin up,” Mulder said, sitting on the edge of his desk to watch her. “Shoulders back.”

 

“Shut up, Mulder.” She glared at him and held the book in place on her head. With her hands only inches from the sides of the book, she took a few cautious steps forward and the book began slipping on her second step. “Dammit,” she said, under her breath.

 

Mulder snapped a sunflower seed open between his teeth. “Maybe you should take your heels off.”

 

“Maybe you should…”

 

“Go on?”

 

Scully turned her back on Mulder and placed the book, once again, on her head. She made it four steps towards the door before the book began to wobble and she paused, raising her hands in anticipation of the fall. She made a small adjustment on its placement and then continued slowly towards the door, stopping just in front of it.

 

“Turn around,” Mulder said, snapping another sunflower seed.

 

Very slowly, Scully pivoted, keeping her weight on her heels. Her eyes slid up to look at the edge of the book in her periphery and it slipped forward towards her nose. She caught it quickly and gave a petulant stomp of her foot in indignation.

 

“Don’t give up,” Mulder said.

 

Scully sighed and put the book back on her head. She held it in place for a few moments and kept her eyes on the front edge tipping down over her forehead.

 

“Look at me,” Mulder said. “Don’t look at the book, look at me.”

 

She cast her gaze in Mulder’s direction and lowered her hands a few inches, letting them hover by the edges of the book and then finally dropping them to her sides. She walked forward taking small, hesitant steps. Finally, she reached Mulder’s desk, stopping directly in front of him with a slight smile on her face. He lifted his hand and swirled his finger in the air.

 

Biting her lip in concentration, Scully turned in a full circle and though the book wobbled, it didn’t fall. Her small smile turned into a triumphant grin. Mulder slid off his desk and grabbed the book off her head.

 

“It’s not a case,” Mulder said, moving around to the front of his desk. “Skinner wants to send us down to a team building seminar in Florida.”

 

“Oh. Florida?”

 

“Home of Disneyworld and the skunk ape. Pack accordingly.”

 

“When do we leave?”

 

“We’re on a 10:30 out of Dulles.”

 

“I guess I’ll go pack and meet you at the airport.”

 

“Hey, Scully.” Mulder came around the desk again, smoothing his tie down the front of his chest and he stopped in front of her. “Um, I just wanted to tell you…”

 

She waited for him to say something, but he shifted nervously and then shoved his hands in his pockets. She raised her brows in encouragement and he dropped his head, a bashful expression on his face.

 

“Mulder?”

 

“You have impeccable posture.”

 

She nodded. Whatever he was too afraid to say could wait.

 

“I’ll see you at the airport,” she said.

 

“You might want to bring some hiking gear.”

 

“Why?”

 

“You never know when you might run across a skunk ape. It is Florida after all.”

 

The End


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